One day to complete 'community safety' survey

The sham consultation for the 'Cambridgeshire Community Safety Partnership' and its priorities for 2011 to 2014 closes tomorrow.

The options available, to councillors and members of the public alike, are to select three of the following five priorities. That is it:

• Repeat incidents of anti-social behaviour
• Cycle theft
• Re-offending
• Alcohol-related violent crime in the city centre
• Repeat victims of domestic violence

An earlier, very unscientific, prefiltering exercise eliminated other possible priorities like burglary (a high priority to city residents).

Drugs raid on Tiverton Estate

Yesterday police reported via E-cops a drugs bust on Trevone Place, off Tiverton Way:

A few weeks ago we received an email from a concerned resident saying that they thought drug dealing was going on as they had seen cars stopping and people using their phones. A few minutes later someone would turn up on a cycle and things were exchanged through the window. The resident was so concerned that they took a photo and emailed it through to me.

After showing the photo around the station we eventually identified the alleged dealer and kept an eye on them adding intelligence onto our system. Yesterday, a warrant was carried out at a house in the Trevone Place and four people were arrested for possession with intent to supply drugs. After a good search a large quantity of what we believe to be class A drugs were found and if this does turn out to be the case then the street value of the drugs runs into the thousands of pounds.

If it wasn't for the resident contacting us we wouldn't have known it was going. This is another really good example of how using e-cops can help to solve crime and keep us safe. If you have any information please either ring in on 0345 456 456 4 or contact us through e-cops.

Good work. Now will they start to act on other known hotspots?

Bike recovered

I now have my bicycle back after it was stolen a month ago!

On Saturday afternoon afternoon I spotted my stolen bicycle being ridden along Coleridge Road and followed it to Cherry Hinton Road, where the rider stopped outside Wilco. After I indicated a string of identifying features the person was keen to hand my bike back to me. I have given details to the police.

The bike has suffered a lot of wear in the month and will need some attention but it is great to have it back!

Thank you to Labour's George and Dan for looking out for it - I guess it can't have been very far away all along. Now having had two recovered from six stolen I wonder how common a 33% return rate is?

The photograph has been edited to protect the guilty.

Fix the Swings!

The swings on the Neville Road recreation ground have been vandalised. When I first reported the problem over a month ago, only two of the swings had been removed:

Now all of them have gone - apparently removed by someone with bolt cutters. The Council have assured me they can be replaced relatively quickly, but one aspect of the Council's response to this problem does worry me - they don't seem to have reported the criminal damage to the police and obtained a crime number.

When I follow up problems like this with the police, the usual response I get back is that they haven't had any reports so don't think there is a problem. I always encourage local residents to report all incidents of crime or anti-social behaviour (even if it frequently doesn't look like anything is being done in response to these reports...), so it is particularly disappointing that the Council itself doesn't seem to be following this advice. I hope incidents like this are rare, but when they do happen, I hope the Council will in future not just spend taxpayers money fixing the problem without reporting it to the police to investigate.

Tackling Crime and Burglary

A number of agencies and organisations will be available on Saturday, September 19 at Brookfield's Hospital between 10am and 3pm to give residents advice about protecting themselves, and their homes.

- Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service will visit homes and advise on smoke alarm fitting and arson prevention.

- Cambridge City Council will be on hand to talk about community safety issues, anti-social behaviour and graffiti.

- Cambridgeshire Constabulary will give residents advice about burglary prevention and law and order

- The Bobby Scheme will be offering home security improvements to the elderly and vulnerable.

Residents will also be able to get information about Neighbourhood Watch schemes, and find out more about keeping in touch with local police officers through the e-cops email service.

Any local residents in Coleridge, Romsey or the surrounding area concerned about crime and community safety in their area are welcome to come along and get some help and advice.

If you have any questions please contact community safety at the city council on 01223 457950.

Police Surgery Wednesday

Our Police Community Support Officers Mark Mitcham and Mick Stribling will be holding a Beat Surgery on Wednesday 19th August. Local residents are all welcome to just turn up and meet our PCSOs to disscuss any crime and anti-social behaviour problems that you may be facing where you live.

The surgery will be held from 19:00 to 20:00 at Lichfield Road Community Hall just off Cherry Hinton Road.

The price of victory

While Cllr Howell and I were securing a surprise victory in the battle at the city council's East Area Committee last Thursday to have speeding dealt with by proper monitoring and police enforcement someone was busy stealing my bicycle wheels outside the Cherry Trees Day Centre.

I hadn't had a bike stolen for three or four years now so perhaps I should count myself lucky it was only the wheels - time to heed the advice of my colleague in Kings Hedges and have it security-marked.

I suspect the thieves probably weren't aware that there were four police officers/PCSOs in the building at the time, which does cause me to reflect on how it can possibly be good value for money for those four public servants to have sat through hours of unrelated business before getting to the Neighbourhood Policing agenda item... Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman Richard Normington pointed out yesterday that the cost of these meetings per head of the general population in attendance is £195!

Finally, I'd like to thank Labour Coleridge Councillor Lewis Herbert for offering me a lift home after the incident...although in the event that didn't quite fit into my plans for a quick pint!

e-Borders or e-Bonkers?

It seems that the Government has decided to look tough on immigration, after a decade of presiding over huge and uncontrolled levels of economic migration that make earlier squabbles over illegal asylum seekers look like haggling over small change (David Blunkett had claimed there was 'no obvious limit' to economic migration).

Unfortunately they seem to have taken a step too far with their new e-Borders system by trying to use it to solve any and every problem of criminal justice. On Saturday we found out about plans to require everyone who leaves the country to provide a multitude of personal details including itineraries:

Even swimmers attempting to cross the Channel and their support teams will be subject to the rules which will require the provision of travellers' personal information such as passport and credit card details, home and email addresses and exact travel plans.

Then yesterday it turned out that the planned scheme will also have the scope to enforce civil penalties imposed by local authorities, e.g. for parking infringements:

Ministers are examining whether to use powers to track the travel plans of everyone leaving the country under a system known as e-Borders to deal with the problem of unpaid fines.

Has the government really not learnt about the limitations of government IT projects? Are they really willing to risk the loss of personal information on this scale, as has happened from so many other government databases? Do they really think that it is right to intrude so much into people's private lives?

Does e-Borders finally show that e-Gorders has really gone e-Bonkers?

Burnt-out Wheelie Bins, Snapped Wing Mirrors and Graffiti

Coleridge Conservatives are concerned about a recent outbreak of criminal damage in and around Coleridge. You wouldn't have guessed it from the e-Cops reports of falling crime and antisocial behaviour being under control, but there does seem to have been a spate of activity.

It seems as if one or more people have been taking routes through part of the city and either spraying their graffiti tag 'DSC' on practically everything in sight, setting fire to wheelie bins or snapping off wing mirrors.

We are concerned that reports are perhaps not being received, processed or treated appropriately so regarding damage to cars we have asked police what reports have been received and what is being done about them, as well as whether some patrols could be instigated. Apparently there is "a bit of antisocial behaviour" around the relevant area. We are not entirely sure that "antisocial behaviour" is quite the correct classification for this crime but it's good to hear that the police are on the case.

Streets affected by the graffiti include Rustat Road, Corrie Road, Hobart Road/Suez Road and Cromwell Road. Coleridge Conservatives have reported many of these to the city council although there are still many more instances around, including lampposts as far as Coldhams Common.



I am pleased to note that the Rustat Road gates have already been repainted by the council - in fact just before I reported them, unaware that they had already been attended to.

More worrying is arson on wheelie bins, found on Brackyn Road and Charles Street:



Policing priorities for the area are again up for debate at this Thursday's East Area Committee.

Community Safety Survey - Please respond

The Safer Communities team at the City Council has been in touch. Tackling anti-social behaviour in Coleridge was one of my key election pledges, and as part of this I am encouraging residents to report all issues to the police and City Council, so that I can follow up by checking the police and Council are aware of all issues and taking appropriate action. I would therefore urge all Cambridge residents to complete the online survey. Anyway, here is the message from the Council:

Tell us about your views on, and experiences of, crime and disorder in Cambridge.

Cambridge Community Safety Partnership, together with the other partnerships in the County, is running an online survey to give people who live or work in Cambridge the chance to have their say on issues of crime and disorder.

Visit – www.snapsurveys.com/communitysafetysurvey

The information obtained by this survey will be incorporated into the 2008 ‘Strategic Assessment’ for the city. This document is produced annually and brings together all information held by different agencies and views of the public on crime and disorder. It enables the Partnership to identify the most important community safety issues in Cambridge and ensure funding and resources are directed to appropriately tackle these priorities.

We would be really grateful if you could give up a few minutes of your time to complete this online survey. Completed surveys will be put into a draw to stand the chance of winning £50 worth of high street vouchers. The survey will be online until 12th September 2008.

If you have any questions or would like a hard copy please contact Paul Griffin at Cambridge City Council on 01223 457045, or email paul.griffin@cambridge.gov.uk